Cameron Meyer (Orica-GreenEdge) won the kickoff to the 77th Tour de Suisse on Saturday.

The nine-day tour began with an 8.1km individual time trial, a flat, out-and-back course in Quito in Ticino that was rendered more difficult in its second half by blustery winds.

A number of riders hit the deck, among them Marcel Wyss (IAM Cycling), who remounted to finish 135th, albeit with a shredded skinsuit. Dan Martin (Garmin-Sharp) nearly laid it down, rocketing into the grass around a sharp right-hander, but managed to keep the rubber side down.

“No results today so I’m somewhat disappointed,” said Cancellara. “In the end when I came to the car I saw I’d done the maximum. I did a great race against the other favorites, but without a result. That’s sport. The luck was not on my side, but I still feel confidence. My feelings were also good — I was riding close to the limit and that’s always important. It was reassuring.”

As for van Garderen, he said he had been “feeling good and … motivated for today.”

“I was thinking it would be a good chance for a result,” he added. “But with the weather conditions, sometimes that’s how it is. … Conditions can change. It’s not like in a normal time trial where the GC guys mostly start together.”

Meyer started early, before the conditions deteriorated, and turned in the winning time of 9:39, 10 seconds better than runner-up Niki Terpstra and 14 ahead of Heinrich Haussler.

A track rider who is making the transition to full-time road racer, Meyer pronounced himself “very happy” to take the win and the first yellow jersey.

“Obviously, I had some help with the weather. The wind was very favorable to me, being one of the first riders off,” he said. “I’m happy, and I will take the jersey, which is very good.

“I’m learning a lot. And now to get a jersey in a WorldTour race — I can’t believe it at the moment.”

Sunday’s second stage takes the peloton over 119km from Ulrichen to the Crans-Montana ski station.

“I’m looking forward to tomorrow,” Meyer said. “It will be hard with the final up to Crans-Montana, but we have a good team. I’m confident we can represent the jersey well.”